Years ago, when working at Cafe Balaban in St. Louis, MO, we used challah bread to make French toast for brunch. For all the years I had my restaurant, I couldn’t source challah bread from anyone. I’m sure I could have flown in challah bread from New York or somewhere else, but it would have been cost-prohibitive to add a menu item like that to our menu. Besides, we already had various French toast options that people already enjoyed. Our Cinnamon Swirl French Toast was a top seller, and our Banana Bread French Toast was a customer favorite as well. So I just forgot about the Challah Bread French Toast.
I recently started trying to make challah bread myself. After several attempts using different recipes, I found this fluffy challah bread recipe. It is much simpler than other recipes I’ve tried and is fluffy and delicious.
I adjusted the flour from the original recipe, mostly because I didn’t have eighteen cups of all-purpose flour. Other recipes I tried called for bread flour, which I did have. I also added some whole wheat flour because I like whole wheat bread. I’ve only made this recipe once, so I am unsure if changing the flour affected the texture of the original recipe. I liked the result and will stick with this flour combination.
I hope you give this recipe a try. It makes a lot of bread, so you can stock up or share it with friends. It is also versatile and works for French toast, Egg In a Hole, and sandwiches. It’s also as delicious as simple toast and jam.
Challah Bread
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp kosher Salt
- 1.25 cup honey
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 6 cups bread flour
- 6 cups whole wheat flour
- 5 cup warm water
- 4 tbsp active dry yeast
- 5 tbsp Eggs
- 2 tbsp Sugar
Egg Wash and Toppings
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 3 tbsp sesame seeds or poppy seeds This is optional.
Instructions
To make the dough
- In a huge bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in 2 cups warm water and let it sit for about 15–20 minutes until thick and frothy. (I use a 13-quart bowl.)
- Add eggs, honey, oil, salt, three cups of water remaining, and half the flour. Mix until a loose batter forms. Add the rest of the flour in a couple of cups at a time. You may not need all 18 cups of flour, so go slowly toward the end. Alternatively, you may need slightly more. The dough should be soft but not sticky. Once the dough has enough flour, knead it for a few minutes. I do this in the bowl. (You can make this recipe by hand or with a mixer.)
- Cover the dough with a wet towel or plastic wrap and place it warmly to rise for about 1½ hours. The dough should double in size.
- Punch the dough down and let it rest for 10 minutes. Divide into six equal pieces.
- To braid the loaves, click on the link in the notes below to view the braiding instructions.
- Preheat the oven to 375° F.
- Place loaves on lightly greased pans and let rise for another 40 minutes.
- Beat the egg with the honey and vanilla and gently brush over the loaves.
- Bake at 375° F for approximately 45 minutes. The loaves should be golden on top and firm on the bottom.
